This invention relates to the field of no-tillage opening blades which may be partially submerged into earth, for example in a farmers field, so as to pass the blade at a submerged depth for delivery of seeds, fertilizer or water into the earth, and to the mechanical system for actuating same.
This invention relates to blade delivery systems which have replaced tillage plows and the like. It is known that the use of plows or other devices having for example tillage discs for tilling the earth or otherwise opening and turning a furrow through the ground suffer from the disadvantage that the moisture in the soil is unnecessarily exposed to evaporation. In the past it was necessary to open the earth so that the ground beneath the surface could be seeded, fertilized and watered. Whether this was accomplished by machinery or done manually, prior art machines or manual systems also suffered from the disadvantage that fertilizer was typically delivered into close proximity to the seeds being sown occasionally resulting in the seeds becoming chemically burnt.
Thus there exists a need for, and it is an object of the present invention to provide, a blade and actuating system wherein the blade may be partially submerged into earth and translated therethrough, where the blade disturbs the earth minimally and without tillage and is adapted to deliver one or all of seeds, fertilizer or water from the blade in advantageous spaced apart relation as hereinafter described.
The sub-surface seeding fertilizing and watering system of the present invention includes a mechanical actuating linkage for actuating an opening blade. The blade has first and second sides extending between a leading edge and an aft edge. The first and second sides are advantageously generally symmetrical to each other on either side of a first plane, where the first plane generally bisects the opening blade, and the leading edge and the aft edge lie generally in the first plane.
The opening blade has an upper surface and a lower surface extending between upper and lower edges respectively of the first and second sides of the blade. First and second wings are mounted to the first and second sides respectively in generally oppositely disposed relation so as to be cantilevered outwardly therefrom. The first and second wings extend between first and second forward wing edges and first and second aft-opening wing apertures in the first and second wings respectively. The first and second wings are mounted to the first and second sides at, respectively, first and second distances from the lower surface measured generally parallel to the first plane.
The opening blade has therethrough, and generally lying in the first plane, first and second conduits, extending from, and cooperating with, at uppermost ends thereof, first and second infeed ports in the upper surface. The first and second conduits cooperate with, at lowermost ends thereof, first and second wing ducts extending aft through the first and second wings respectively between the lowermost ends of the first and second conduits and the first and second aft opening wing apertures. The first and second conduits and the corresponding first and second wing ducts are thereby in material flow communication between the first and second infeed ports and the corresponding first and second aft opening wing apertures for seed, fertilizer or fluid flow, as fed from a material feeder, therethrough during the forward translation of the blade.
The opening blade is mountable to the material feeder so as to be generally vertically disposed, when mounted thereon for partial submerging into soil to a first submerged depth advancing the leading edge through the soil. The first and second distances are less than the first submerged depth so that the first and second wings are submerged in the soil during the forward translation of the blade.
In one preferred embodiment, the opening blade further includes a third conduit extending in material flow communication between a third infeed port in the upper surface and an aft opening blade aperture in a rearward position on the opening blade in proximity to the aft edge for seed, fertilizer or fluid flow therethrough, as fed from the material feeder. Advantageously the aft-opening blade aperture is centrally disposed relative to the first plane so as to lie generally symmetrically across the first plane, and may be positioned so that the aperture intersects the lower surface of the blade. Thus the aft-opening blade aperture is formed at the intersection of the lower surface and the aft edge of the blade. The aft-opening blade aperture may lie in a second plane at generally 30xc2x0 inclined relative to a third plane generally containing the lower surface of the blade, wherein the third plane is generally orthogonal to the first plane.
Advantageously, the first, second and third conduits are generally parallel and raked aft of their corresponding first, second and third infeed ports. The first, second and third conduits may be raked aft at an angle of approximately 55xc2x0 relative to a fourth plane generally containing the upper surface of the blade if the upper surface is a planar generally horizontal surface, although this is not necessarily so.
In one embodiment, but not so as to be limiting, at least the first and second conduits are formed by mating of corresponding opposed facing channels in oppositely mounted side panels, oppositely mounted in, or mountable into, first and second sides of the blade.
In a further aspect of the design, the third conduit is generally parallel and adjacent the aft edge and the leading edge is concavely curved and forms a pointed toe at the intersection of the leading edge and the lower surface of the blade. Advantageously, the pointed toe may be made of hardened material relative to the hardness of material forming the balance of the opening blade.
In a further aspect, the opening blade may be defined as having a longitudinal length dimension and a height dimension, where the longitudinal length dimension is perpendicular to the height dimension and both dimensions lie in the first plane. Further, the opening blade has a lateral width dimension perpendicular to the first plane.
The longitudinal length dimension extends between the leading and aft edges of the blade, the height dimension extends between the upper and lower surfaces of the blade, and the lateral width dimension extends between the first and second sides of the blade. In the present design, the length dimension is much, that is, significantly greater than the width dimension, as described hereinafter. The height dimension in one embodiment is greater than the submerged depth so that the blade is supported above the soil and the blade thus partially submerged during forward translation, although this is not intended to be limiting. That is, it is readily conceivable to mount the blade to a support that itself becomes partially submerged in the soil.
Further advantageously, the first and second wings are wedge-shaped and the forward wing edges are vertices of the wedge-shaped wings.
The sides of the blade may be thought of as having upper and lower portions respectively above and below the wings. Thus, the first and second sides have upper portions generally located, respectively, between the first and second wings and the upper surface of the blade, and lower portions generally located between, respectively, the first and second wings and the lower surface of the blade. The lower portions collectively form a waisted shape so that a forward width dimension of a forward flared portion of the lower portion of the opening blade and an aft width dimension of an aft flared portion of the lower portion of the opening blade, the forward and aft width dimensions extending between the lower portions of the first and second sides, are greater than an intermediate width dimension of a waisted portion longitudinally extending contiguously between the forward and aft flared portions.
The first wing may be defined as being set back a first longitudinal distance from the leading edge and the second wing as being set back a second longitudinal distance from the leading edge. Thus, in one aspect of this design, the first longitudinal distance may be greater than the second longitudinal distance. Correspondingly, the first wing mounted to the first side of the blade at a first longitudinal location generally corresponding to the aft flared portion of the blade, and the second wing may be mounted to the second side at a second longitudinal location generally corresponding to the waisted portion of the blade.
In the wing design, an upper wing surface on the first and second wings extends aft over the corresponding first and second aft-opening wing apertures on aft cantilevered upper wing members. The lower wing surface on the first and second wings may form a first wedge angle of approximately 5xc2x0 with the upper wing surface. Further, laterally outer-most wing surfaces extend between the upper and lower wing surfaces. The laterally outer-most wing surfaces may advantageously intersect the corresponding first and second sides of the blade at their corresponding first and second forward wing edges. Thus the laterally outer-most wing surfaces may form a second wedge angle of approximately 5xc2x0 relative to the first and second sides of the blade respectively. Advantageously, the first and second wings may themselves also be inclined downwardly so that a pair of corresponding planes bisecting the wedge angle between the upper and lower wing surfaces on each of the first and second wings, where the pair of corresponding planes contain the corresponding forward wing edges, are inclined forwardly and downwardly at approximately 5xc2x0 relative to a generally horizontal plane containing the lower surface, it being taken for the sake of this defined relationship that the lower surface is generally planar and horizontal, although this is not intended to be limiting, and is not necessarily so, notwithstanding that the preferred embodiment hereinafter described is illustrated as such.
The blade is mountable into a header member of a parallelogram linkage. A pair of parallel rigid drag arms extend between the header member and a hanger member and are pinned at their respective ends so that rotation of the header member relative to the hanger member on the parallel arms maintains a general horizontal orientation of the header member thereby supporting the blade downwardly in a constant orientation. The hanger member is mountable to a supporting frame. Selective actuation means such as a hydraulic actuator or selectively controllable spring assembly allows selective control of a downward force urging the blade into the soil. Where the selective actuation means is a hydraulic actuator mounted between the hanger member or frame and the parallel drag arms or header member, the actuating linkage may be selectively elevated so as to remove the blade from the soil.
In a preferred embodiment, a swivel mounted coulter wheel is mounted to a forward end of the header member, ahead of the leading edge of the blade when the blade is mounted to an intermediate or rear end of the header member. In a further alternative embodiment, a furrow closing arm, which may be a leaf spring arm, is mounted to a rear end of the header member so as to trail rearwardly therefrom in line with a furrow created by the blade passing through the soil. The closing arm may be urged downwardly by a selectively adjustable downward biasing means such as a pivotally mounted rocker arm pivotally mounted to a rear end of the header member and selectively adjustable so as to be rotated downwardly into downward biasing engagement against the furrow closing arm.